Rosie the Lab upends life at the farmhouse

After we finished grieving about Charlotte Brontë, I enjoyed not having a dog. I’ve been feeding or financing dogs, or both, ever since I was 6 years old. But my partner does not thrive dogless. So, in the summer of 2012, we came to an agreement: She would locate the pup she wanted, and I’d give it to her for Christmas.

Since then we’ve had days when we wondered if our lives would ever return to what we considered normal.

35 Responses

What a cute pup! By the size of those paws I think Rosie’s got some growing to do. Her face reminds me of one of those big eyed button nose seals. She’s got it good, room to roam and constant companionship. Young folks that get dogs are off at work and the dog is alone. Pups don’t like that at all.

Hale, what shoe brand do you wear? I’m going to buy stock in that company.

Your description of that pup is spot on. Those seals were the first thing I thought of as well.

That is a fine looking pup. I love the excitement of puppies. We gave away many a dauchound pup. We were very selective about the folks we gave a pup. From time to time we see one or get a call about one. People just are crazy about them. But one was brought back by 2 different couples because the folks thought she would grieve herself to death. So she is here for good. She is about 2 now, still full of vim & vigor & always excited to see my wife or me. She is tiny and as fast as lightning. When she sees us she runs around in circles. I think she missed her fellow dogs every but as much as she missed us.

What brand of shoe do I wear? Sneakers, whatever brand is on sale. That shoe that the pup has hold of in the picture is a Havana Joe high-top. I bought those shoes several years ago in Santa Fe NM during a snow storm. Wore ‘em maybe half a dozen times.

Yes, melting, huge eyes: mighty like a seal-pup. Which reminds me of reading about when missionaries translated the Bible into Alieut, there was no word for “lamb” because there are no sheep in the arctic.
So, “Behold the Lamb of God” turned into, “Look–the Seal-pup of God.”

JHR, the problem you encountered is because it’s a column entry, not a blog entry, and is carried in full on http://houstonchronicle.com under Lifestyle columnists. The Friday BLOG entry you saw is an excerpt of the column, and when you click “read more here” it takes you to the other (premium) website. To comment among all the usual commenters, you have to return to the blog: http://blog.chron.com/leonhale and post your comment under the excerpt, as you have done.
I know it seems confusing–to me, too!

O.C., today he’s listed at http://www.chron.com/blogs/ both as a blogger and as a featured columnist. I personally find it confusing. I am sure the intent is to “drive traffic” to the premium content site. If the internet had begun this way, no one would be upset. We would simply expect that we should pay for our entertainment, as we always have.

What a cutie! I love puppies…we currently serve our grand-dog (when our daughter moved to Houston 8 years ago to begin medical school, we all decided that Bentley was too large a dog to be cooped up in an apartment (she’s a pound puppy; near as I can figger she’s part lab & part shephard….bout 70 lbs)). So…here she still is (Laura is still in Houston, in practice now), she’s our dog now I reckon but goes bananas when her ‘real’ momma comes to visit. The only period of my life without a dog was while I was in the Navy…they make your life better.

When The Post closed, I had been gone to the Chronicle for eight years. I add that because so many people keep saying that I went over when The Post closed. I went over to The Chronicle because it offered me a much better deal. More money and less work.

Hay Hale, I just had a brain fart. I don’t write as often as I would like to because I don’t think I am as witty and smart as I think I am. Therefore, in the future if I write it will be to increase your blog numbers, thereby generating a bigger slice of the pie (that is if you include me in your will) Happy Super Bowl…

Thanks for the help, LongStation. Appreciate your contribution whether you think it’s witty or not. Remember you in my will? I’ll glady leave you every dollar I’ve made off this blog. But when they’re all counted, they’ll add up to zero.

Leon, One of my mother’s favorite expressions was “the more I see of some people, the more I like dogs”. Don’t think that originated with her but I remember it clearly. I’ve always felt the same way. My bride and I have had two and a cat. (The cat was really a mistake, but we adopted it any way. One was enough though.) LOL

Leon, great story about your Rosie. Our Stormy is likely a cousin to Rosie as her dad is one of Linda’s dogs, “Doc”. Stormy is two years old now and a wonderful addition to our family. Like Rosie, she’s well bread, also the very light color, not white, but creamy! She is smart, sweet and loving. Thank you for the warm story. I hope you continue to write about Rosie

We have one dog named Stop Sign. That’s where my daughter found her, all scraggly and full of heart worms. We have one dog that looks like a rottweiler at 140 pounds but she is actually a cross between a border collie and some sort of bulldog. We have a suspected yorkie poo that was salvaged from a garage cage behind the dryer after residents moved on. She had about 15 turds grown into her skin. Beautiful dog but still not housetrained after 2 years. I keep saying “Me or that dog” but nothing ever happens. Read My Lips, after these croak. “No More Dogs”…

Thanks to LongStation for taking in abused dogs. On another note, I’m late to the party on this column but I too was very put off by not being able to read the whole column since I am no longer a subscriber. It’s a shame that Mr Hale cannot cut and paste the entire column as a “reply” to this blog so we could read it. No that would be unethical. I would have enjoyed reading about Rosie. Lots of newspapers have been doing this same trick for a long time. I don’t know how much a digital subscription is for the Chronicle – there are only a few things I like to read about since I no longer live in Hou – but Hale is one of them.

Rosie the puppy is certainly adorable but as a volunteer at a Houston animal shelter I see so many just as adorable puppies coming in every week It would have been so wonderful if you had adopted from a shelter. (also a lot less expensive I’ll bet)
At least it sounds like the breeder is a responsible one who checks out her customers. But I still advocate strongly for adoption of homeless pets in shelters.
Also not sure why older folks want puppies, older dogs are so much easier to deal with – less chewed up shoes, furniture etc and they deserve a second chance.

I find it amazing that anyone, including your “Customers,” has the unmitigated gall to think that they are entitled to an opinion as to where you choose to obtain a dog. It is none of their business. I have had pure breds and pound-puppies and both are just fine. It is the person’s call and not a decision that should be subjected to political correctness. My Dad had a saying, “They can’t sell you guilt unless your buying.”